


A part of the city...

by KhissaCat



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Drabble, F/M, My First AO3 Post, Please be gentle, just something i came up with
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 05:59:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9308489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KhissaCat/pseuds/KhissaCat
Summary: Hawkmoth is up to no good, and the editor of the Ladyblog is taken by those under his control, Ladybug and Chat Noir must hand over their miraculous stones if they want her back!





	

Alya struggled, earning another slap from her captor. Even as tears pricked at the corners of her eyes she refused to cry out, she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. The cords around her wrists were biting against her skin, the gag uncomfortably tight, she knew struggling would hurt, would earn her more abuse if she was noticed, but if she was anything it was stubborn! she was not going to take this idly, she was not going to give up, if she had any say in the matter, she would not let them use her as they intended, she would not be willing bait!

The ramshackle and gutted warehouse allowed light to slant in through many gaps, patterning and dappling the floor, dancing motes filled the air with hazy glitter. Alya was thrown roughly to the ground, face down, a yelp stifled in the gag. One of the men placed a boot between her shoulder blades to hold her down while another securely bound her ankles. She was then roughly yanked up to her knees, and the cord that bound her feet was laced through the ones that held her wrists, forcing her to keep a kneeling position. She grinned against the gag, they were fast learners, they had only tied her hands in the car ride from her house, and one of the men had earned a savage kick to the face for it.

Cautiously, she glanced up at the men through her tangled hair, there were three, the first, ‘Boss’, as she thought of him, was the talker, well dressed, barking commands and far too casually throwing a hand gun around as he gestured. The second, ‘Boots’, was the muscle, he was the most heavily armed of the three, he held a hand gun, an automatic rifle was slung over his shoulder, and a large knife hung from his belt, he had been the one she kicked, and she noted with some pride the royal shiner that was forming around his left eye. Lastly was ‘Stooge’, smaller and more timid than the others, his main purpose seemed to be to complain piteously and do the jobs that Boss had given to Boots…

She tried to grain their features into her mind, details like eye colour, height, build, scars, moles, jewellery, anything that could help identify them later… she would have a later to identify them again, she refused to let her thoughts wander to the alternative. She focussed on being ornery, fighting them every step of the way, she would not miss a chance of escaping, she didn’t dare, knowing what they wanted her for…

Time crawled past, she was not sure if it was an hour or a few minutes, but the men were edgy, they glanced every which way, flinching at the slightest sound, “ _good…_ ” she huffed against the gag. “ _You had better be nervous! you idiots have no idea what you are going up against!_ ”. But doubt coiled in her gut, if these had been just regular civilian ne’er-do-wells, there wouldn’t even be a fight, but Hawkmoth had his slimy fingers well and truly wedged in this.  
The Boss turned, his eyes meeting hers, there was the ghost of colour behind them, purple flashed for only an instant, and the characteristic mask was only a vapour around his features before it vanished. This was new, these men were not Akuma, Hawkmoth had learned a new trick, he could persuade. His honeyed voice in the right ears had caused all kinds of chaos, turning many in Paris against Ladybug and Chat Noir, inciting riots, provoking bedlam, the authorities had had little choice but to issue an arrest warrant for the two heroes to keep the peace.

Alya had been outraged, and had reached out, calling to the masses that frequented her blog, to help Ladybug and Chat Noir in any way they could… the outpouring of responses had been staggering… Alya and Nino had been filtering the responses for three straight days, later Marinette and Adrien had joined in to help, most of the messages were useless, but every now and again, there was a grain that added to the rest, and these started to build a picture.  
What they had learned at least was that all the persuaded individuals had a common thread. They had all been in, or had contact with officers from a specific police precinct somewhere in downtown. This meant that someone, something, had to be the conduit, one probably well hidden Akuma, that if found and purified would sever Hawkmoths connection with all the persuaded. Could undo the leash he was stringing around Paris’ neck.

With this information in hand Alya had immediately sent a call out to the two hero’s via her blog, begging them to contact her, she knew that they (at very least Chat) followed the blog and hoped they would respond. At 1 AM that morning she was startled by a tap at her window, it was Ladybug. Alya wasted no time is showing her what she had learned, Ladybug was grateful, thanking her for her help before ghosting off into the night. At 3AM that morning she was startled by three armed men breaking down her door, holding her family at gun point and dragging her off into the darkness… Apparently Chat was not the only one that had been following her blog…  
Now here she was, Hawkmoth had decided that if Alya was important enough to the heroes that they would answer her call, then Alya was probably important enough for them to come to her rescue.

She grated her teeth against the fabric that clogged her mouth, before dragging her off, the men had flipped open the blog and left a message for Ladybug… Her blog, the bastards had used her blog to set a trap. That had made it personal, and it fuelled her rage and determination to get away from them, to warn Ladybug and Chat Noir, before…

A ringing crash and the sound of tearing metal filled the warehouse, they were here, “ _Oh no…_ ”. Alya yelled and twisted savagely against her bonds, trying vainly to break loose. A harsh backhand strike to the face did make her cry out this time. Through the haze of tears she could see them coming, Ladybug and Chat Noir, striding casually into the trap, she wanted to scream, to cry, to beg their forgiveness for having to come here to save her… for being used as bait… 

A snarl from one of her captors, she blinked, the heroes had stopped approaching, they stood shoulder to shoulder, some way off, assessing the scene.

Ladybug’s eyes roved around the interior of the building, Chat did not take his eyes off of the three men, both were wearing similar expressions of distaste.  
“Well?” Ladybug barked the word, finally turning to face Alya and her captors.  
Boss sneered, his voice dripping with saccharine glee “Like a said. I have something of yours,” he nodded stiffly to Boots “and if you want it back, we need to make a deal.”  
At the sign, Boots lifted his gun, the report of the action being cocked echoed dully through the building.  
“Deal?” It was Chat who spoke, he drawled the word, appearing thoroughly bored as he lounged over his staff. “Funny, I see no deal to be made here… come M’Lady.” Chat straightened and turned to leave, Ladybug making to follow. Alya’s stomach dropped. “ _W-what?_ ”

Boss looked flabbergasted, Alya could hear Boots grate his teeth in frustration “HEY!” he yelled, causing the two heroes to stall and glance back, “If you want her to stay alive,” he pointed the loaded gun at her head “you’ll all nice like hand over your miraculous stones…”  
Boss found his voice again “Hand them over! or we kill her here and now!” with a gesture he motioned Boots to push the gun up against her temple.  
Alya’s eyes went wide, she swallowed dryly. All the emotions she had been burying under fury and determined indignation swelled in her throat, causing her to tremble at the touch of cold steel. She looked up to Ladybug and Chat Noir, her heroes, her idols, surely they would not abandon her to this? Her blood ran cold, Ladybug met her eyes with cold indifference, before turning on the men and laughing, a bell like cascade. She spat back “Are you serious? hand over our miraculous stones, for her? just her?” Ladybug advanced on the men a few paces, her ice like eyes drilling into them as she spoke with pure venom dripping from her ruby lips “We are the defenders of the CITY of PARIS, the whole CITY. And you expect us, US? to hand over our powers for, one, teenage, girl?”  
It was Chats turn to laugh now, a deep purring rumble in his chest.  
Ladybug barrelled on, apparently enjoying herself, her every word chipping away the small hope that had burned in Alya’s heart.  
“She has what? title? no? influence? no? a family of dependents that can’t survive without her? not even that?”  
Chat crossed his arms haughtily and sneered “Then what is she to Paris, and what is she to us?”  
Ladybug shook her head before adding with a quirk of her lips “One girl with a blog that is occasionally useful, is nothing weighed against the fate of the whole of Paris. You have no deal,” Alya felt her heart shatter, hope fleeing her as she watched her heroes abandon her “ _no_ ” the small word, the implication, the fear, repeating itself like a mantra in her head “ _no, no, no, …_ ”  
“Chat? Shall we?” Ladybug slung her arms around Chats shoulders, He plunged his staff into the ground and they rocketed upwards, a slash of his razor claws tearing a new hole in the roof, and they were gone.

Beside her the men were ranting and baying in fury, Alya was numb, they’d left her, the press of cold steel had gone from her temple, but the mark it had pressed against her skin still burned, any reason to keep her alive had just vanished through the roof, they had left her, she was alone, she was surely dead. And the worst part was she agreed with them. It made her feel sick to her stomach. But they were right. Compared to the fate of Paris, she was nothing. Compared to losing the only people capable of ending Hawkmoths tyranny, she was less than nothing. A single tear rolled down her cheek and soaked into the fabric of the gag. She stopped struggling.

The Boss yelled and fumed, lashing insult and laying blame, he stormed off, barking an order to Boots, Boots sneered and yelled back and scowled, he pressed his handgun into Stooges hands and made off after Boss in a seething row. Stooge held the gun unsteadily, aimed at Alya, a trembling finger hovering over the trigger. She looked up, he looked down, another tear tracking a dusty line down her cheek. He’d admired her spirit, she had never given up, she had fought like a cornered badger, and looking at her now… he couldn’t do it.  
Alya's world spun, she collapsed to her side, pain flowering in her head and fuddling any sense she had left. Stooge had reversed his grip on the gun and had pistol whipped her, hard, meaning to knock her out. He would argue to his partners that they didn’t need murder on their hands, especially after their plan had failed…

Alya was not out, not completely, but she didn’t move, enough of her rattled senses remained to tell her that it was probably a good idea to wait until her captors were well and truly gone. Don’t give them any reason to come back.

She heard the slam of car doors, the thunder of an engine gunned to life, and grating of tyres on gravel, she stayed still, listening to the retreating crunch of tyres, she waited until silence reclaimed the warehouse.

Moving hurt, her wrists were raw, shooting pains lanced through her head and down her neck, and her legs were pulled up at an uncomfortable angle where she lay. But she was alive. Relief threatened to choke her, tears pressing hard against the corners of her eyes, but she bit them back, she was helpless, tied and gagged in a lonely part of Paris in an abandoned warehouse, she was alive, but far from safe.

Alya took a long steadying breath, forcing herself to focus, first things first, she had to get these cords loose. She craned her neck round, looking for anything that might be useful, a rusty nail, a broken bottle, anything that she could maybe use to sever her bonds… 

That’s when she heard it.

A soft metallic whine, the sound of freely spooling cable, followed by a heavy thud. Before Alya could react, she felt the tension in the cord binding her legs relax, and a pair of strong arms gather her up in a crushing embrace. It took her longer to register that the person crushing her to their chest was sobbing into her hair. And a beat longer to register that that person was Ladybug.

Chat walked slowly into her field of view, and collapsed to his knees, obviously shaken. His voice was a strained whisper as he brought up a hand to rub contritely at the back of his head. “Dear god, Alya, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…” Ladybug had stopped crying, but her breath was still unsteady against her hair “We didn’t mean to scare you, it was-… we’re sorry, we were here the entire time, we never left you…”

Alya forced herself not to flinch as a black clad hand neared her face, a claw sliding under the fabric of the gag against her cheek, slicing it away effortlessly, Chat lent past her and she felt his claws cut the bonds at her wrists as well. Ladybug loosed her grip around Alya, instead taking and rubbing her hands to try and restore some circulation, as Chat tugged the ropes away from her ankles. It was too much. Alya cracked.

She fell back against Ladybug’s chest, sobs wracking her frame, Ladybug held her gently, whispering assurances as Chats hand rubbed soothing circles into her back, when she stopped crying the yelling began… She couldn’t remember what she had said, only that she had said it loudly, between heavy swats at the heroes which they accepted stoically, venting her stress and her fear and her resignation at them until she stilled back to silent tears, her face buried in her hands. After a few minutes she peeked sheepishly from between laced fingers, “I’m sorry.” Chat huffed and Ladybug giggled.

“Feel better?" Ladybug asked tentatively, Alya nodded, “Yeah, I’m ok,” she made to stand but Chats firm hand on her knee stopped her, “I wouldn’t rush if I were you, you took a nasty hit.” His eyes raked over her face and hair and his brow furrowed with concern, cautiously he raised his hand to the side of her head “Let me look?”  
Alya nodded, and was surprised by how gently he pushed back her hair, she raised her hand and touched the side of her head, feeling the sticky warmth of her blood as it seeped from the place she'd been hit. Now seeing the red paint her fingers, she became aware of the deep ache in her skull, it made her feel queasy. Chats expression however, relaxed, “Well now, that’s not as bad as I expected.” Ladybug shuffled round to examine the damage for herself, she hissed in sympathy before casting Chat Noir a withering look “Well Chat, if you’re comparing it to what we get dealt on a daily basis, then fine, maybe, but remember Alya is a _civilian_.”  
Chat grinned back “Granted, but did you see that guys eye, she’s tougher than she looks.” He gave Alya a conspirational wink, and she felt her cheeks colour.

Ladybug rocked back on her heels with a thoughtful look on her face, “Tikki could help with that…”  
Chat nodded “Sure, but Plagg is better at it…”

The move appeared tender, a caress, Ladybug raised her hand to Chats cheek and gently pressed her thumb to the edge of his mask. The place where her finger and the disguise met glowed an eerie green, and even thou both the heroes eyes had fallen shut and they were silent, the air positively crackled with _communication_. Alya watched in awe, she was aware of their kwami, the magical creatures that gave them their powers, she wondered if this had anything to do with them?

Ladybug let her had fall away from Chats cheek, and Alya was sure she caught his huff of displeasure at the loss of contact.  
Ladybug nodded to Alya “Decided, Plagg says he’s up for it.” She and Chat quickly rose and switched positions, Ladybug sitting cross-legged in front of her and Chat plopping down close behind her, a leg on either side.

Alya was confused, especially when Chats gentle hand on her shoulder encouraged her to lean back against his chest. She cast an enquiring look to Ladybug who only nodded encouragingly. Feeling the colour in her cheeks deepen at the strangely intimate position she relaxed back. Chats voice in her ear was light and unconcerned, “You may want to close your eyes, it’s a little bright.”

She scrunched her brow, before the implication of what he said hit home like a freight train. She sucked in a breath to protest but it was stifled by a tingling wash of energy and a flash of brilliant green, Alya’s hands flew to her face to cover he eyes, and she kept them there, fully aware that she was now sitting against a fully detransformed, fully civilian, Chat Noir.

A weight plopping into her lap startled her, her hands flying away from her face to stare at the small black cat like creature that was grinning up at her. “Howdy, names Plagg.”  
Brilliant green, slitted eyes focused over her shoulder “Got any cheese?”  
She felt the rumble of Chats chuckle as an arm, reached past her to hand the creature a block of cheese. “All you ever think about huh?” “Yup!” Plagg answered thickly, spewing cheese crumbs.

Alya’s brain disengaged, the arm ( _his arm_ ) that had handed the kwami ( _his kwami_ ) the cheese, was bare till just below the elbow, where there should have been black leather and razor sharp claws, only the turned up cuff of a white shirt.  
To see so much of Chat Noir’s skin ( _Chat freaking NOIR’S freaking SKIN!_ ) felt almost scandalous. So she did the only thing her fangirl, hero-worshiping, amateur journalist brain could come up with, she grabbed it!

Like reflex her hand fastened around Chats wrist, he didn’t flinch, neither did Ladybug, there was a beat, a moment of her just staring at the hand now pinned in hers, “OH MY GOD ARE YOU KIDDING ME!”

Chat, Plagg and Ladybug erupted with laughter, Alya dropped Chats hand as though she had been scalded, wrapped her arms around herself and pouted hard at Ladybug and Plagg, the only members of the group she could see, muttering hard at the unfairness of the current situation.  
“What the actual hell?” she demanded as the laughter died down, Chats frame still rocking from silent chuckles. Alya gesticulated wildly, trying to wrap her head around the current situation she found herself in, eventually she settled on just jabbing a thumb over her shoulder, “Why?”

It was the kwami that answered, intermittently licking cheese crumbs from his small paws “How do you think these two saps get their collective tuchis handed to them on a daily basis, and come back tomorrow looking fresh as a daisy?” Alya goggled, she had wondered. “Well, that would be us, me n’ Tikki, patching them up. So? you ready or what?”

Alya just stared, unable to comprehend what the kwami was implying, her head hurt and she still felt queasy, luckily Ladybug rescued her. “Plagg has agreed to bond with you to help heal your injuries, that- that is if you’d like him to?”  
Alya’s eyes were saucers, “Here,” It was Chats voice “you’ll need this.” his arms reached round her, he gently pulled open one of her hands, and dropped in a silver ring, set with a glinting black stone.

Alya’s brain melted. Chat had just handed her his miraculous stone.

Alya felt numb, she watched as hands that didn’t feel like her own took the ring and slipped it onto her finger, it fit perfectly. “Plagg, Claws out.” It was Chat who said it, the kwami zipped up and vanished into the ring.

Alya gasped, her skin writhed with energy, she felt it suffuse into her very substance and set her nerves tingling, it was vibrant, exhilarating, intoxicating power! and wrong! she could feel the discordant strain of magic that did not belong to her, trying to plot a course through a body it did not know. She shuddered at the alien contact of Plaggs mind as it brushed against hers. She felt the energy writhe and move, seeking out her hurts, pooling at the points of her injury, her raw wrists, her head and cheek where they had struck her, the sprained ankle that she hadn’t even noticed…  
Alya felt the energy calm, settle, suffusing her body with a radiant warmth, before a small voice at the very edge of consciousness offered a soft apology. She cried out, it had lasted only a moment, but every mark on her blazed white hot, before fading so fast she wondered why she had cried out in the first place.

She had only a moment to process, before the energy withdrew from her, peeling from her essence like a bandage, or a scab, an almost painful but satisfying separation. She was not sorry to feel the alien presence of the strange magical creature pull away and leave her alone with her thoughts again.

She blinked once, twice, and tore the ring from her finger, only just containing the impulse to toss it as far from her as possible. Both she and Plagg, who had landed in her lap with a muffled ‘oof’, gave a full body shudder. “That felt weird!”, “Yeargh! tell me about it!” 

Alya’s eyes trailed away from the kwami in her lap, for the first time noticing that the legs beside her were not clothed in black, formfitting leather, but denim jeans and trainers, Chats pale hand resting easily on his leg. She suppressed another shudder and roughly pressed the ring into his hand, raising a chuckle from him.

A flash of green signaled that Chat Noir had transformed, and she felt his warm presence retreat from her. A black gloved hand extended, she took it and he helped her to her feet. Alya took a moment to take stock of herself, her head still ached dully, but gone was the shooting pain and queasiness. Her ankle felt fine, and the marks on her wrists were fading even as she watched.

“Well miss journalist, we had better get you home.” Chat turned to Ladybug, his fist lying in the palm of his other hand, she mirrored his pose, the round of rock paper scissors was over before Alya even registered what they were up to, never mind who won. Chat turned back to Alya “Your chariot awaits! hop up!”  
A slightly stunned Alya was hiked up to ride piggy back with Chat.

The only warning she got was the ripple of muscles tensing beneath the suit, and they were flying! She cinched her arms around Chat Noir’s shoulder as the ground raced away from them, the roof flashed past and the Paris skyline sprawled away from her! Her stomach swooped as their trajectory changed, vaulting a long graceful arc back to the rooftops, Chats boots made solid contact, and they were off. The heroes running amazingly fast across the uneven rooftops, occasionally vaulting down into alleys and by-ways, but never once breaking speed. Alya clung on for dear life, sometimes marvelling at the scenery that raced by, but mostly wedging her eyes tight shut!

“You can open your eyes now.” It was Ladybug. A shaky Alya was carefully lowered from Chats back onto the rooftop of the apartment block where she lived. “We’ll let you in your window, the three of us marching up to the front door might draw a little too much attention.”  
Alya was still a little stunned by the journey, the car ride had been at least a half hour, but she was sure they had run for less than 5 minutes! “Thanks.” “ _How the hell do they do that?_ ”

Chat and Ladybug were peering over the edge of the building gauging where Ladybug had to drop her yoyo to lower them to Alya’s window. Alya stood to one side, fidgeting.  
She jumped when a warm hand closed on her shoulder, she hadn’t even noticed Chat approach, “What’s wrong Alya?” his inhuman eyes considered her, they had unnerved her in the beginning, those luminous green, cat-slitted eyes.

“What you said… in the warehouse. About being protectors of Paris…” Alya cast her eyes to the gravelled rooftop. “Everything you said was true, it made sense, why did you stay? Why did you save me? you were putting yourselves in danger by coming at all!” Her voice had become small. Feeling again the burning shame at being used as bait, and angry at having been the cause of putting her heroes in the way of danger.

Her thoughts here scattered when Ladybug drew her into a tight hug. “Oh Alya!” she broke away, holding Alya at arms-length “We ARE the protectors of the city Paris, but we choose…” She rolled her eyes, considering her words, “ to take ‘liberties’ with what we define as ‘the city of Paris’.” Chat chuckled, “You live in Paris, that makes you part of the city.”  
“And the day that one of us loses sight that every soul in our care is important, special and worth saving…” The pair exchanged a significant look “Is the day we hand over our miraculous to a more worthy wielder.”

Alya fell silent, warmed to her core by the pair of super heros who would stoop to save even the meekest in their city, to any who would need them…

Chat broke the moment “Besides Marinette would cut off my cookie privileges if I let ANYTHING happen to her best friend…”  
He grinned sheepishly as Alya and Ladybug goggled at him, before they all 3 doubled over laughing.

Alya gripped Ladybugs shoulder tightly as they spooled down the side of the building, Ladybug stopping their progress just outside of Alya’s window, Chat had extended his staff to the ground and had slid down to join them, he held up his hand and Alya marvelled as the claw on his index finger extended, he easily slipped it under the window frame, flipped up the catch, and slid the window open, slipping inside and helping her and Ladybug through.

She was home, the three stood in her empty room, the anxious voices of her family audible from just beyond the door, her mother was crying. Alya bolted to the door, gripped the handle, and stalled. After a moments pause she flung herself back at the two super heros, pulling them into a tight embrace, as hot tears spilled from her eyes again, they hugged her back, and she allowed herself just a little self-indulgence that Paris’s super heros had saved her, just her, just a teenage girl, that they had taken the time to direct their full attention to her, she had never felt so elated, or humbled.  
“If there is ever anything that I can do, you know where to find me.” the offer felt small, but she meant it, she would move heaven and earth for her heros if they asked her to…  
Alya felt Ladybug give her little squeeze before pulling away, “Go to your family, they have been so worried.” Chat gave her a grin and dipped into a low bow before flipping out of the window and offering Ladybug a hand.  
Alya beamed as she watched the heros disappear across the rooftops, the moment she lost sight of them she tore open her door, calling for her mother and sisters, did she have a story to tell!


End file.
